Notes, during a visit to Egypt, Nubia, the Oasis, Mount Sinai, and Jerusalem

Front matter

NOTES,

DURING A

VISIT TO EGYPT, NUBIA,

Chap. IX

Cairo to Bedrousin... Sacchara... Mummy-pit... Benisouef... Bebee... Djibel et Teir. .. Palm-tree. ..Minieh... El Coom Amrah . . .Metarrah . . . B enihassan . . . Antinoe.

CHAR X.

Rhadamone . . . Ashmounim . . . Hermopolis . . . Melawi. . .Manfaloot...Mahabdie ... Crocodile Pit...Lekraat...Siout... Aboutidge . . . Gou . . .Shekh Eredy . . .Ekmim . . . Souhedge . . . Girgeh . . . Baleainieh...Arabat Matfooner.

CONTENTS. ix

Hermontis . . . Esneh . . . Latopolis . . . Contra-Laton . . . Heggs . . . Eleithias...Edfou...Hadjar Silsilis...Koum Ombos...Isle of Ele phantine . . . Essouan . ... Cataracts . . . Philae.

Chap. XIV

Debood. . .Kardassy . . .Kalebshy . . . Dondoor . . . G wersh-Hassan . . . Dakky . . . Korty . . . Maharrag . . . Sebouah . . . Djibel et Telly . . . Dehr . . . Thoomoz . . .Ibrim . . . Arnky . . . Ebsambal.

Jerusalem.

Chap. XXIV

Departure from Jerusalem. ..Ramlah...Cucommin... Nazareth ...Acre ...Tyre ... Sidon ... Baroot ... Tripoli ... Cannobin ... Bysherry . . . Balbeck . . .Baroot . . . Cyprus . . . Kakava... Rhodes . . . Scala Nuova. . .Ephesus. . . Smyrna. . . Athens. . .Hydra. .. Constantinople . . . Vasilikos. . .Varna . . .Bucharest . . .Vienna.

DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.

Jerusalem... to face the Title-Page.

Tablet of Hieroglyphics. ..to face Page 161.

Convent of Mount Sinai. ..to face Page 234.

VISIT

TO

EGYPT, NUBIA, THE OASIS,

MOUNT SINAI,

Sfc. $c.

Chapter I. Voyage From Malta Pilot Boat— Alexandria

DEAR W

As your accident on Mount Vesuvius is also my misfortune, depriving me of your company to Egypt, I shall alleviate part of my own at least, by occasionally sending you an extract from my journal.

October 6th, S p. m.— Took the good wishes of my friends at Malta, and went on board the brig Costante, already under weigh for Alexandria, and at 3 p. m. commenced my unceasing wish, that the voyage was over— wind fresh but fair— and fair but fresh — -the sun in setting appeared particularly red \ the captain and myself looked at it with very

B different sensations — I admired it : the captain applied the word " Capote" as an epithet, and sent for his great coat — it soon came on a violent gale ; however it was very well, when over — we had run two hundred miles in twenty-four hours.

Eighth — Oth. — Time passes on as it usually does at sea ; " how far have we come, how far have we to go, at what rate are we going, when do you think we shall arrive, only guess," — no mile-stones — no land — no ships — not even a straw for a drowning man to catch at — " nil nisi pontus et aer," as the Latin grammar says.

In so long a traject as from Malta to Egypt, a landsman has a right to expect a weather adventure, but not when the stars are unusually bright and beautiful. " All that glisters is not gold ;" the breeze that removes the clouds from Heaven, ruffles the surface of the deep. About midnight I found my head knocking itself against either side of my birth, as if was not my own, an awful bell was summoning all hands upon deck — " hear it not Duncan" — pumps going, brandy going, and so was my breath, no " aes triplex" to keep my heart in its proper place, the pitching of the vessel had the same alarming effect, as descending the mountains of pleasure in the jardin Beaujon at Paris ; I shall never again call Saint Peter coward, and I repent of having with you, in the straits of Messina, abused Virgil for exaggerating Scylla and Charybdis ; I now think Homer more unpardonable for attempting to express the threats of the sea in one word.

Fourteenth. — Wind little, and none, there is a feather vane near the steersman, it droops : I put lighter feathers, but it wo'n't do ; we are however near land, a heavy mist that falls at the moment of sunset warns us of our approach to Egypt.

Fifteenth. — The sea is brown and brackish, this is owing to the influx of the Nile, and yet we are probably forty miles from the mouth of the river — the night is so dark and the coast so dangerous, that we bear away from the object of our wishes.

Sixteenth. — Day break, hail to the gardens of Rosetta, we have overshot our mark and tack back for Alexandria — a low white streak scarcely rising above the level of the sea ; compared by Denon to a riband stretched along the horizon — Pompey's pillar looks like a light-house and answers the purpose of a land-mark.

Alexandria has two ports, the old and the new ; the latter is exposed and not frequented, the former is not easy of access, it has a mouth like that of a mad dog, rocks like teeth, protruding, foaming, and threatening; still a chance of commencing my adventures with a shipwreck like many travellers in this quarter ; a boat-load of screaming pilots give a horror and interest to the scene; the

b 2 dresses of these men, unlike that neat uniformity which pervades our seafaring class, are as gay and diversified as the changes of fancy, colour, and embroidery can make them ; turbans, poniards, red shoes, no stockings, mustaches extending on either side the face like a cat's feelers — a grey bearded fellow who seems old enough to have been pilot to Noah, and clothed in Joseph's garment, his legs crossed, his arms folded, with a pipe in. his hand, is perpetually screaming out " Hay-lay-essah,

Hay-lay-essah," (God help us, God ) and now

that we have cleared the rocks, and that there is no more danger, old grey-beard comes on board for payment, he asks also, " becksheesh," a regalo, a present ; his coming on board is worth something, for it is a sign that the plague does not at present exist in Alexandria. It is nearly the moment of sun-set and gate-locking, so that I cannot yet make my escape from this moving jail, nor can I at present discover any thing to tempt me on shore except a few palm-trees, and what will also defy my cariosity, a large white building at the extremity of a tongue of land, far removed from man ; it is the Harem belonging to the Cleopatras of the Pasha.

We have run nearly a thousand miles in ten days, a rate I should be most happy to compound for with Neptune and his unholy allies.

THE OASIS, MOUNT SINAI, ETC.

17th. — I have been on shore ; the very stepping stones at the water's edge are a mass of antiquities, about to quit their native country, with strong

letters of recommendation from Messrs. and

, to the respective governments of England

and France ; defaced hieroglyphics and noseless statues sent for no visible reason, unless for ballast. Who would imagine that such things are to be paid for? If such are the pieces of the gorgeous palaces that are worth carrying away, there will scarcely be left a wreck behind ! I may return to Rome to look at obelisks, and to London and Paris for all else of Egyptian labour.

Conducted to the house of the English consul -y streets narrow, winding, and filthy ; houses low, unfinished and unfurnished ; where there ought to be glass, is a closely reticulated wooden grating, like the screens of a nunnery, and to answer the same purpose ; the women here are born in a prison, they live in a prison, and they die in a prison, if they escape being tied in a sack and drowned. Contrasted with the vile appearance of the town are the gaudy habiliments of the people ; one might imagine the place to be wealthy — but there are also such a number of half clothed and half starved, that Alexandria appears to be a national poor-house. Coffies and smokies are as frequent and as frequented as gin-shops and ale-houses in London. In lieu of silver-smiths and confectioners, are tobacco-cutters and barbers ; at length we enter the only street that boasts a pane of glass ; this is inhabited by Francs. The term Franc is applied to every head that has a hat on it ; and here forgetting all national and religious differences, they flock together, as Jews do in London, and Turks in Venice.

Arrived at the consulate — no one knocks at Mr. Lee's doors without experiencing disagreeable sensations, till within them. They are evidently constructed as a defence against either plague or mob ; being double and having a small aperture for caution's sake.

In the town is an inn and a table d'hote, the table being covered with oil-skin, which is an antiplague ; here are also lodgings to let, but. I retain my birth on board the brig ; there is a wide difference between being in a ship when at sea, and when it cannot run away with you ; we have a minor plague on board, musquitoes and flies, they boarded us yesterday as busy as custom-house officers ; the flies are wading incessantly through this scrawl, following my pen as crows do the plough. What trouble, not sport, Domitian would have had here ! Sir R. Wilson states that he used to kill such quantities at a time that it " appeared as if a cask of currants had been spilt." It is surely no harm to kill a musquito, and I know not which are our greatest enemies, the flies or the musquitoes, they hold divided sway- — half sting by night, the others sting by day.

Yours,

P. S. Whenever I make use of Arabic terms, I shall write them as my ear dictates to my pen.

A VISIT TO EGYPT j NUBIA,

CHAPTER II. PLAGUE DOGS- — OBELISKS POMPEY's PILLAR

CANAL CATACOMBS FLIES.

ALEXANDRIA, 21ST OCTOBER.

The camel with our luggage is gone, and the donkies that are to carry ourselves are ready ; they do not appear so anxious to proceed as our guide, who says that if we turn out of our way to look for where Canopus fuit, it will be dark ere we reach the half-way house. — But to my mem. — Concerning the plague, nothing certain is known of it except its dreadfulness — fear, as in all other countries, and other diseases is a conductor ; if so, I run great risk. A merchant here at the commencement of the late plague shut up his house, and would allow no one to answer the door but himself ; he caught the plague, and died : all the other inmates escaped. Among curious cases there is one on record at Malta. A tailor, who had procured some silk from an infected house, passed the evening with a soldier and his wife : the tailor went home, and the soldier and his wife to bed ; on the following morning the woman found her husband

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dead by her side, and covered with tumors : she was put into the lazzaretto, as was also the tailor : at the end of three weeks the infection manifested itself upon the latter, and he died; the woman escaped altogether. There is no calculating upon safety — till after the 24th of June. Then, even the Turks, who are fatalists, have a feast, under the idea that the plague ceases on that day — it usually about that time goes out of town for the season, or remains incog.

Walked towards the obelisks of Cleopatra, they are situated at the edge of the new port. Within a few yards of the town, the butchers were drawing and quartering buffaloes : the sands fetid with entrails : sharks and dogs are the only scavengers. Here commences a wall, which is supposed to be a defence, and is called the city wall ; under it are frequent mounds of rubbish, such as are seen in the purlieus of London, where retiring citizens placard " Belle vue" upon a cottage. Attempting to pass the first of these filth hills, a pack of brindled wolf dogs rushed down upon us, barking furiously as if they knew me to be a Christian. I had almost determined, Actseon-like, to fly, but stood at bay, and at length backed out of their dirty territories, the dogs following till we approached a second mound. Here a second kennel was let loose upon us, and the former, having handed us over to strict watch, retired. They have a method in their madness ; and I would match them for frightening strangers against double the number of geese of the Capitol.

The town wall runs between the water's edge and the obelisks : fragments of pillars and architectural remains, probably once connected with them, are visible under the neighbouring waves. Encountered the dogs once more, and entered the town.

Met a crowd of Roman Catholics returning from mass : they have a neat chapel, which is not only tolerated by the government, but even surmounted by the Turkish flag to preserve it from insult. In Bucharest, the capital of a Turkish province, every religion is tolerated — except the Mahommedan — strange inconsistency. The Pope also has an armed force, and having an armed force has the word Peace inscribed upon his standard. Near the chapel stand three plain granite columns, that may have been part of a portico, or any thing else. I really cannot make them interesting : Denon has made a pretty picture of the subject; but the beauties of it do not exist. Nearly opposite is a ruined mosque, in which was found a noble sarcophagus, it was packed up cleverly by the French for the Louvre, but it se trouve in the British Museum ; the cross is still evident on some of the stones used in this Turkish temple — but even the eagle is not obliterated from all the public build-

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ings at Paris. I laboured onward over some acres of crockery : at Rome it is difficult to believe that Monte Testaccio is formed of such materials, but here we may fancy the wreck of all the potteries of Egypt. The city cisterns are filled but once yearly, by the overflow of the Nile ; they are spacious, and underground ; will soon fall into disuse probably, as a canal is about to be opened between the river and the town ; at present I am watching a camel, he carries two goats skins for water — kneels down at command near the opening of the cistern ; the skins being rilled, he springs up, and bears his burden to the town — if cunning did not master strength, camels and elephants would never submit to man. The obelisks of Cleopatra do not appear striking to one accustomed to those at Rome ; even in size they yield to that standing before the church of St. John Laterensis. One of them is under sailing orders for London, in the other there is nothing so remarkable as to observe that the hieroglyphics on two of the sides are nearly effaced by the pelting of the sand ; such is the effect of minute particles even upon granite, while the sides exposed to the saline atmosphere, have not suffered the slightest injury, and three thousand years have passed heedlessly by, These obelisks are called the Needles of Cleopatra : they have no eyes to them, but if they had, a cable six feet in diameter might pass through as easily as through the needles of the Isle of Wight.

Pompey's pillar stands without the walls ; the distance at which it is seen at sea prepares one for the intelligence that it is nearly 100 feet in height : the shaft is said to be the loftiest in the world (as a single block). This bel pezzo of granite is in height superior to perhaps any house in London ; and here, where the buildings are comparatively cottages, appears to great advantage ; the capital (Corinthian order) is different as to material, and indifferent as to workmanship : in its character as a column it is less pleasing than many at Rome and Athens, and, as a monument, it is not to be remembered with Trajan's pillar, nor with that in the Place Vendome at Paris, nor with " the Monument'" in London, it has not moreover any admonition on the shaft : it may have one upon the pedestal, because Quaresmius gives one and Hamilton gives another : the former says it was erected by Alexander ; I leave the curious to settle the point whether it was erected in honor of Alexander, or of Diocletian, or of Severus — "tulit alter honores." I did not ascend it, though not forgetful of the plan of flying a kite, as was done over the tower at Pisa. It is quite sufficient for me to be told by our captain, that he, in company with seventeen others, dined on the top. Encamped near the pillar is one of the Pasha's sons, whose duty is to superintend the operations going on at the new canal, and to prevent the labourers from deserting : these labourers are procured by conscriptions levied on the villages : Egypt is still " the house of bondage. 99 Met part of the governor's harem : each woman riding on a donkey, and covered with a mantle of black silk, as with a cloud, I should have mistaken them for bales of goods, can form no opinion of cither face or figure : their master has lost his nose.

The canal is the labour of many thousand wretches brought together by force, and ill paid for their work ; many of them who had probably never seen a hat before, surrounded us : Becksheesh was the rallying w^ord : these poor wretches are covered with rags, at least those who have enough of them. There is but little method in their labour : that of raising water from one level to another is an ingenious piece of awkwardness ; a low bank is built up, two men at a few paces distant opposite each other, swing a rush basket through the obnoxious pool, the water, that does not fall through, is thrown over the bank, and thus it is handed on. At the moment of sunset, a note of exultation ran through the workmen ; with scarcely an exception they performed their ablutions in the dirty puddles, and knelt down on the spot to pray. All turned their faces towards Mecca, a Mohammedan always does while praying, whatever part of the world he

A VlSit TO EGYPT, NUBIA, may be in, and similarly as we turn towards Jerusalem when looking at the communion-table. Prayers finished, those who had any thing to eat, supped, and a miserable number who had nothing, scratched a kind of grave in the sand, and, taking off their rags, endeavoured to make a coverlid, particularly to guard the head. The gates of the town locked — Becksheesh effected a breach.

Went with a party armed to see the excavations : about two miles W. of the town some paltry chambers have been cut in the rock, and being washed by the sea, are nicknamed, " The Baths of Cleopatra;" in the neighbourhood the stone-cutters have displayed their fancy in forming a kind of temple, and sundry chambers ; these are called the catacombs, but are very inferior to those at Syracuse, or even to those at Paris ; they are half filled with dirt : a quantity of bones and holes indicate that these places have long been the resort of wild animals ; an hyaena had been killed here a few days before, and our guide discharged a musket at entering ; we were also provided with the ship's line, which we made use of as a clue to our egress : the story of people having been lost is applied to these catacombs, in common with all others from the time of Theseus ; our arms were meant to be of use should the Arabs have attempted to fasten us in for ransom, a trick by no means uncommon.

Revisited the canal : in the cross cut that com-

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municates with the new port, and within 200 yards of it, 20 feet below the surface of the sands, is a considerable extent of laboured stone, and two granite columns of a peculiar want of order, drawing to a point at the top : if this fabric ever formed part of Alexandria, as it probably did, it must have been at that time when, according to report, it contained a population three times as large as that of London is at present ; at that time too the library was in existence, but the glory of this part of the world passeth away : the town is sunk below comparison, and as to books, the library is now reduced to the Koran, a pocket Vade Mecum, that contains love, law, and religion ; throughout the Mohammedan dominions, which occupy no inconsiderable space of the ancient hemisphere, there is but one Turkish printing press : Plato and Pythagoras once came to Egypt to learn. The town of Alexandria, from the land side, appears like a stone-mason's yard, nothing to relieve the eye from sun, sand, and stone, except a few palm-trees, and occasionally a flag, denoting a consulate ; the townwall embraces a large space of ground, containing gardens, and even hamlets, the huts of which are about six feet square, of unburnt brick. Turning a corner suddenly, I came near a woman whose veil was raised, she screamed, and appeared angry, I had no reason to congratulate myself, though it is the first female face that I have seen in Egypt, it may also be the plainest : every woman wears a sort of Venetian mask, and reminds me of a funeral fraternity at Rome ; but, if I may be allowed to judge by the sample, I suffer no great privation.

A small battery thrown up by the French is still in existence; under it is a neat mosque lately erected by public subscription ; it is said that the Prophet appeared to the Viceroy, and commanded it to be done ; the magnificent church of Santa Maria Maggiore, at Rome, was built in consequence of a similar miraculous imposition. The Pasha is not considered over-religious, but can quote Scripture.

The most strange, the most disgusting, and the most unavoidable sight in Alexandria is this — the eyes and mouths of all the children are literally embanked with flies ; their mouths are beset as if they were the mouths of honey-bottles, their eyes are too filthy for description ; the children have no prescient dread of ophthalmia, but suffer these vermin to remain undisturbed ; whether these two organs of sense are used as fly-traps, or whether to be fly-blown is to be complimented, I will not decide ; but Plato was more fortunate in his infancy in being overswarmed by bees.

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CHAPTER IIL

MIRAGE— SWALLOWS CANOPUS BEDOUINS ETKO

ROSETTA GARDENS BOGAZE RICE MAGAZINE

ABLUTION— COFFEE AND PIPES MORE DOGS.

ROSETTA, 22D OCTOBER.

I also call this place by its Franc name, because you do, and every one else unacquainted with the proper term ; the natives call it Rashid ; the Italians, and Italian is the current medium of conversation in this country, terminate every word with a vowel 5 those who never heard of Haroun el Rashid, give another meaning to the word, and Rashidda, becomes Rosetta. I am cooling myself in the Franc inn, for though the distance from Alexandria to this place is only twelve hours, and though we tarried that same length of time at the half way house, I arrive im-patiens soils alque pulveris.

On leaving Alexandria, we enter immediately on the desert, about a league in advance there appears to be a large sheet of water, interspersed with rocks and cattle immersed to their knees ; their images are seen reflected, though the surface of the mirror is disturbed by a flickering haziness ; oppressed with heat and sand you hasten onwards, the water still receding as yon advance, — surely one of the plagues of Tantalus was invented on

c this spot ; an ignis fatuus is not half so provoking as this ' ' mirage," again and again deceiving! though the last deception left you determined not to be deceived again. Thus even the desert is productive of interest ; an infinity of sand is in itself a novelty, not a pleasing one ; yet to know that it is sand, and at the same time only not believe that it is water, equals any deception in the legerdemain of nature ; for the solution see the experimental philosophy of Dr. Woolaston.

Swallows in great numbers skim over the plain, are they also deceived ? the plumage of their breasts is of a deep red colour : I leave it to naturalists to determine whether it is the same bird that comes with summer, when summer does come to England, and if in changing country it changes plumage.

Distant about three hours from Alexandria, labourers are making excavations in the sand, they call it Canopus ; I saw no fruit of their industry, but am told that whatever is found, is again hidden, till a sufficiency is collected for market. The Francs buy any thing that bears the sign of antiquity. At the water's edge are the remains of some colossal figures and baths, which denote the ancient site accurately depicted by Denon.

Approached some Bedouins, they live in low ragged tents ; a wooden bowl, a coffee pot, a mat to sleep on, a gourd rind for water, a donkey, and a goat for milk, comprise their domestic utensils ,

THE OASJS, MOUNT SINAI, ETC.

their appellation is derived from a word signifying desert — they pack up and pack off at a moment's notice, as our gipsies. I requested a draught of water, which was brought to me in the bowl, enough for man and donkey ; the bearer of it, a fine young woman, wore a pair of large ear-rings : it seemed as if she had sold her wardrobe to purchase these barbarous ornaments : she was otherwise beauty unadorned, except being tattooed, not only as to her eyes and chin, but very low down. A man was employed in making cloth, I hope for the young woman. The Bedouins in general live beyond the reach of despotism, and differ much from those who dwell in the cultivated parts of the country. We had passed the spot where Abercromby fell, and were now within sight of Aboukir. Denon, speaking of the battle of the Nile, boasts that two or three vessels escaped from Nelson, having cut and run in a fog — " fatter e et efficgere est triumphiis" Etko, the half-way house, a wooden hut nearly filled with a wooden dresser ; stretched my mattress and myself upon it. A dirty fellow was baling out coffee all night ; a gin-shop cannot be more disagreeable ; the boards of the roof had parted company, and the stars and myself were winking at one another till morning.

22d Oct. 6 a.m. — No English breakfast to be got ; no breakfast of any kind ; nothing but coffee, half and half, grits and water, neither sugar nor

c 2 milk. Mounted our donkies, five hours to Rosetta 5 between Alexandria and this place a few palm-trees diversify the desert ; bleached bones indicate the road as plainly as they did from Waterloo to Paris. By the way-side is occasionally placed a tub of water, the pious bequest of some rich Mussulman — this is charity !

Rosetta is of better construction than Alexandria, the houses higher, with the convenience that, in the upper stories you may shake hands across the streets ; the streets or lanes are therefore dark, but the sun is excluded, which is not an advantage in London : the bricks are deep red, cemented with a profusion of white mortar, and have a peculiar appearance. See plate by Denon. The gardens here are delightful, but any thing green and cool might well be so to one coming from the desert ; these, however, would be valued, even after ordinary verdure : they are not so extensive as I had imagined, but more beautiful than I could have conceived; every thing is in wild luxuriance, and literally a wilderness of sweets ; how different from a French garden, formed by axe and rule into mathematical lines. The banana, the palm, the orange, lemon, cedrato, and henneh, besides being objects of novelty and beauty, are all in bearing. The banana pleases me most, both in its fruit and in its appearance ; the leaves are nearly six feet

in length, and of a width to render them just elegant. The banana is called poma paridisi, but had it grown there, two leaves would have made a gown for Eve, instead of her making a shift with fig-leaves. The henneh, loved-of-women, resembles myrtle. The various species of orange struggle for room, and the whole i s surmounted by the palm-trees ; their leaves resembling and drooping like ostrich feathers. I never saw a hot-house to please me so much, scarcely excepting a drawing-room levee at Buckingham-gate. The trilinguar stone that was discovered here is to be found now in the British Museum ; no object of curiosity remains except the gardens. I wish that they were in London too* 23d October. — -Hired a small boat and visited the Bogaze ; the Bogaze is a sandy island or plain, occasionally lent by the sea, and affords a scanty pasturage ; the sand annually accumulates, and the navigation is already so dangerous that the Arabs say, " he who is not afraid of the Bogaze does not fear God." The new canal will entirely destroy the commerce of Hosetta, and of the seven mouths of the Nile ; the mouth at Bamietta will be the only one without a locked jaw. It is not worth the while to go to the Bogaze, were it not for a sail through a magnificent wood of palm -trees, and the view at return of the aspiring minarets of Rosetta ; it is, however, some consolation to you, that a grove of palm-trees are inferior to the same number of firs, in alpine scenery, and that a minaret in the distance is but little better than an old fashioned chimney. A palm is elegant as to its leaves, but the trunk is a long and bare straight line, like lady Lath-and-plaster at a drawing-room, or a corpse carrying its own plume of feathers. I intend making the tour of Lower Egypt before I visit Cairo ; my two boatmen of to-day have almost persuaded me to take their skiff, which is only eighteen feet long — the waters are out, and I can cut across the country; the fashionable thing is a candgy or a maash, which you hire reasonably to yourself, and in your own cabin, you can go from one end of Egypt to the other without seeing any thing, and perform your journey moreover with great expedition ; but I am not carrying despatches, and do wish to see the manners of the natives : A candgy is to a maash as a gondola to a barge — walked through the rice magazine, nearly all the rice of the kingdom is collected here, and it all belongs to one man, the Pasha himself — this merchant viceroy monopolises the whole, and at his own price ; vi et armis : when the grain is nearly ripe, soldiers are placed in the fields as guards, lest the Pasha should be defrauded, and lest he who sows should reap 4£ proprio condidit horreo, quicquid de Libycis verritur."